Tuesday, October 21, 2008

When I came home from Blogher Boston last Sunday Mr. C and Chicky were playing outside. It was a nice day out so why not, right? It's not like they had been stuck inside on a glorious fall weekend at some conference. No, I'm not bitter.

Chicky had requested that her dad draw her some pictures in sidewalk chalk on the driveway. Then she demanded he draw her family. I had barely gotten out of the car before she was excitedly showing me the picture her daddy had drawn of him, her mommy, Chicky, and her baby sister.

This is what she showed me:

My husband will never be mistaken for a great artist but I thought it was a good likeness given the medium.

Okay it kinda sucks, but I didn't marry the guy for his mad chalk skillz.

However, once I got past the crude, caveman-like feeling of the drawing and looked a bit closer I noticed something a little troubling. Or sort of funny. It all depends on how you look at it.

Can you see it? Look closer.

The picture of me is fine, even if my nose is humongous, but that thing in my arms? That's supposed to be C.C. Her face looks a little bit, um, mutilated, don't you think? Those scribbles were not there originally. They were added later by a certain three year old art critic.

Whenever people ask me how Chicky is adapting to the arrival of her little sister I always tell them as well as any kid would. She loves her, she hates her. She wants to squeeze her until her little baby head pops right off.

I never ever noticed the nostril flare before but now that I'm looking back at my pictures... OH I kid. And as the youngest of my family, scribbled chalk on my face was the least of my fears when it came to being put in my place by my sis or bro.

The legendary book Siblings Without Rivalry actually recommends letting kids draw (and mutilate, if they choose) pictures of their family in an effort to deal with their feelings. When I read the book, I wasn't sure if I believed it would work, but Chicky has proven to me that there's something to the theory. Now it sounds like an excellent coping strategy (and one infinitely preferable to some of the possible alternatives in acting out feelings).